Retrieval of Black Carbon Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth from AERONET Observations over the World during 2000–2018

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Naghmeh Dehkhoda, Juhyeon Sim, Sohee Joo, Sungkyun Shin, Youngmin Noh
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: aerosol optical depth (AOD); absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD); black carbon (BC); Ångström Exponent (AE; å); single scattering albedo (SSA; ω); depolarization ratio (DPR; δ p ); Science; Q; Indian; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14061510; https://doaj.org/article/ec6bebfc897142ccaf59727bebc1b0de

Black carbon (BC) absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD BC ) defines the contribution of BC in light absorption and is retrievable using sun/sky radiometer measurements provided by Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) inversion products. In this study, we utilized AERONET-retrieved depolarization ratio (DPR, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">δ</mi><mi mathvariant="normal">p</mi></msup></mrow></semantics></math> ), single scattering albedo (SSA, ω), and Ångström Exponent (AE, å) of version 3 level 2.0 products as indicators to estimate the contribution of BC to the absorbing fractions of AOD. We applied our methodology to the AERONET sites, including North and South America, Europe, East Asia, Africa, India, and the Middle East, during 2000–2018. The long-term AAOD BC showed a downward tendency over Sao Paulo (−0.001 year −1 ), Thessaloniki (−0.0004 year −1 ), Beijing (−0.001 year −1 ), Seoul (−0.0015 year −1 ), and Cape Verde (−0.0009 year −1 ) with the highest values over the populous sites. This declining tendency in AAOD BC can be attributable to the successful emission control policies over these sites, particularly in Europe, America, and China. The AAOD BC at the Beijing, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, and the Indian sites showed a clear seasonality indicating the notable role of residential heating in BC emissions over these sites during winter. We found a higher correlation between AAOD BC and fine mode AOD at 440 nm at all sites except for Beijing. High pollution episodes, BC emission from different sources, and aggregation properties seem to be the main drivers of higher AAOD BC correlation with coarse particles over Beijing.